


Spelling Is Hard

by JaredKleinman



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Fluff, Gen, a bit of wholesomeness for Charlie and Dee, because they deserve it, just dudes being friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:36:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28820844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaredKleinman/pseuds/JaredKleinman
Summary: Dee teaches Charlie how to read. That's it. That's the fic.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	Spelling Is Hard

“I did good this time, didn’t I?” Charlie asked as Dee skimmed the sheet of paper he had handed her a few moments ago. “I swear, I studied my ass off for that one!” 

Dee sighed.

“Charlie, you made thirty mistakes on twenty words I don’t even know how that’s _ possible. _ ”

“What? No way. Gimme that.” Charlie took the piece of paper out of Dee’s hands and skimmed it himself. Not that it’d make any sense to him but there was a  _ lot  _ of red. Enough to make the thirty mistakes credible and the worst part of all was that he just didn’t get  _ why  _ he couldn’t do it. He had sat down for  _ hours  _ trying to get those stupid letters into his head - in vain apparantly - and at this point things had become frustrating. He rested his head on his forearms and gave Dee a whiny look. 

“Why do I have to learn this stuff anyway? If I really need to read something I can ask Frank or one of you guys. I have my  _ ways _ .”    
“Charlie, being able to read is important.”, Dee said and snatched the paper from him.    
“Why?”

“Because you have to learn how to do things for yourself.”

“No I don’t.”

“Yes you do.” 

“No I don’t.”

“Charlie.” Dee said, exasperated and turned the piece of paper to the blank side. “Write an A.”

“Yeah here’s the thing though. About class tests. I don’t like them.”

“No- the  _ letter _ you idiot!” 

“Oh...like an _ ay  _ ay.” 

“Yes, an  _ A _ A, Charlie. Write it down.” 

Charlie took the pencil and unscrewed the cap very, very slowly. He then proceeded by staring at the paper for a few moments before turning back to Dee. 

“But where am I supposed to write it, like in the bottom left corner, or in the middle or real big all over the paper like I don’t know-”   
“Just write the damn letter, Charlie!”    
“Okay, okay, dude,  _ chill _ .” he grumbled and turned back to his very white and very void sheet of paper. Dee couldn’t see what exactly he was doing but she heard the pencil scratching over the paper three times. So that was promising. 

After he was done he reluctantly handed over the paper. He had drawn a triangle. That was....Not as far from the real thing as she had expected. 

“That’s...not an A, Charlie.”    
“Well it sure looks like one. Like when  _ I  _ look at it I’d say it looks just like an  _ ay _ sounds.” 

Dee asked herself again why she had thought it was a good idea to help Charlie learn how to write. It must have been some kind of philanthropic streak - she got those sometimes - where she felt the sudden need to actually do something kind for once. She now remembered why she usually  _ didn’t  _ do that. 

“Okay here,” she said and wrote a big A on the paper. “Copy that.“

He did. 

It looked...alright. It looked like an A. If you showed it to someone on the street they would unmistakably recognise it as the first letter of the alphabet. That was probably better than anything he’d written in his entire life. 

Dee beamed.    
“See?”she said and turned the sheet around to show Charlie the fruits of his labour. “You wrote an A! Like in ABC. That’s an actual letter. So you  _ can  _ learn how to write.” 

Charlie stared at the three lines on the paper.    
“Huh.”, he said. “Let me do it again.”   
He picked up a pencil and drew another A on the paper. He studied the result for a few moments and then looked up at Dee. “That’s easier than I thought.” 

“Right? Now do a B.” she said and showed him how to. Charlie followed suit and after a few moments there was a very clumsily written but still unmistakable B on the paper. 

“Yes, exactly like that, Charlie!” She grinned and Charlie started beaming like a child. It was adorable, really. Especially when one considered that he probably didn’t do much smiling in elementary school when he was originally supposed to learn how to write. 

“It’s like pictures,” he said as he confidently placed another B next to the one he had already written. “Just with sound.” 

“Yes!”Dee exclaimed. She felt like Charlie had finally found a connection to letters and if he thought of them as pictures with sound then he should very well do so. 

“Okay so next in the alphabet is a C.”

“A see.” 

“Yes. It’s a semicircle. Like….that.” 

Charlie copied the letter again and looked so incredibly proud of himself that Dee couldn’t help but feel something warm and rewarding starting to bloom in her chest. Those philanthropic streaks might not be all too bad after all. They managed the whole capital alphabet in about two more hours, screwed pieces of paper were lying all around the table but neither of them cared very much about them. They could tidy up the room later. 

“Okay so now I want you to draw the C again. But from your memory.” 

“Okay. I think I can do that.” 

And he could. Dee asked him to write six more letters from memory and he could write almost all of them without any help from her. 

“Great! Now read what you have written down.” 

Charlie looked skeptically at the letters on his sheet. “Seeeytchaaarelieee. That doesn’t sound right.” 

“Okay, I probably should’ve mentioned that beforehand but C and H together become some kind of TCH and I and E together just sound like a normal E.“   
Charlie considered that. “That sounds very stupid.” 

“Just read the damned word, Charlie.” 

“Chaarelie. Charlie. Charlie? Like my name?” 

“Yes, dipshit, like your name,” Dee said, grinning. “You have just written your name for the first time, congratulations.” 

“I have…”Charlie started but never actually finished his sentence as he stared at the letters in front of him. He traced the word with his fingers and silently repeated the letters. When he looked up Dee could see in his eyes that he was noticeably touched. 

“Thank you, Dee.”

“Yeah, now don’t become all sentimental and get the hell outta here before Dennis arrives I don’t want him to know that we hang out.” Shetried to go for an indifferent tone of voice but not even Charlie could miss the moved undertone.   
“Okay,”, he said but hesitated to get up. After a few moments in which he was obviously trying to ask something but couldn’t really get it out Dee put a hand on his shoulder and pressed the sheet of paper with his name on against his chest. “Yes, you can keep it, Charlie. Now  _ out _ .” 

Charlie scurried over to the door and Dee followed him, opening the door as he put on his shoes. They shared the most awkward hug in the entire history of hugs shared between members of the gang - which weren’t all that many now that she came to think of it - and then Charlie had left and she had closed the door behind herself. 

A thought struck her suddenly and before Dee could think any better of it she had ripped open the door again and yelled “Charlie?!” 

“Yes?” Charlie called from the foot of the stairs. 

“Same time next week?” 

“Sure.” 

And she could hear the smile in his voice. 

The next time she visited him she thought something was quite off. She didn’t know what it was until after about thirty minutes, when she noticed a plain but definitely new picture frame on the wall above Charlie and Frank’s futon. The picture it framed was mostly white but she could distinguish seven different letters in the middle of it. 

CHARLIE.

And on the heat plates beneath the bed she saw a notebook which was opened on the first page. Charlie had scribbled his name all over the page like he couldn’t believe that he was actually able to write it. And in the bottom left corner, she saw a very tiny and very smudged “KALLE”. 

_ Oh well,  _ she thought,  _ we’ll get to that next time.  _

  
  


  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @aspiringaspie for beta-ing!!! I hereby use this fic to promote the iasip discord server so if you're interested go to @pricerruthers 's blog on tumblr, you'll find the invitation there!  
> As always thanks for reading and kudos/comments just make my day!


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